How are your bees doing?

[Bakersdozen]

Slowmodem-I had a similar situation last winter.  In that case it was a hive I had bought from a woman that had a bad bee sting reaction.  We moved the hive in October and I didn't have a chance to do an inspection.  On Thanksgiving Day, my niece called to say the hive was trying to swarm.  I thought it impossible.  On a pleasant day in January I opened the lid to find them all dead, what was left of them.  The dead mites on the screened bottom board pretty much told me what happened.  They were overwhelmed with mites and on that balmy Thanksgiving Day tried to abscond.  What was left couldn't form a big enough cluster to beat the cold.
Live and learn.

[Slowmodem]

Well at least I have 16 frames of honey/syrup to feed with if needed.

[rodmaker]

The hive i just had abscond looked exactly the same. Noticed very few mites but there was signs of mite fecal mater in one area of the brood chamber.

[Ray]

Dang that sure is a sad sight!

How much honey did they have left?

About 3 full frames in the top box, all on the west side. The center deep had a good heft to it. It was a swarm I hived this summer, sorta thought I would split it this spring :'(. Too darn cold, Too darn long!

[Jen]

My hive is a double deep. I got into the top super yesterday and want to get into my brood box today. Can I just lift the top super off without removing frames and set it down on some newpaper or something? Then do my brood box inspection, then set the top super back on when I'm done? don't want to mush the queen.

[iddee]

I set the top box on the lid that I laid on the ground or hive stand, crossways.

[Jen]

Thanks Iddee    pht! why didn't I think of that

Got into my top super yesterday. I'm preparing for a split, or a swarm which ever comes first. I was told to look and see if there is any bee space left in between the frames. I don't think they are over crowded but starting to get pretty full.

What do you think?

[G3farms]

A nine frame box?

You already have drone brood in there.

At some point I would clean up all of that burr comb so the frames can be pushed tightly together, this will eliminate much of the frustration when pulling the frames out. Good way to roll a queen also.

[Jen]

Now, these are four frames that came out of the upper super. I found some honey in all nine frames. Plenty of capped brood. Drone cells. Nectar. Pollen. Larvae of all stages, but no eggs that I could detect, they are propably there tho, or in the brood box below.

Also, regarding screen bottom boards and the bees not building comb all the way to the bottom of the frame. Not in this hive's case, all comb is all the way to the bottom.

You can see the beautiful capped brood, and a couple of frames of weird wax formations. Is this burr comb?

[Jen]

G3- ""At some point I would clean up all of that burr comb so the frames can be pushed tightly together, this will eliminate much of the frustration when pulling the frames out. Good way to roll a queen also.""

Good Day G! I haven't ever trimmed up frames during spring thru fall. So would I do this after the drones have hatched?

And will the queen lay drones in these cells agian.

What time of year would I trim up these cells when queen is building this years colony?

[G3farms]

All of that "weird looking wax" is known as burr of brace comb. A littlte smoke to move the bees off of it and cut or scrap off.  Yes you will kill some of the babies but all will be fine. I would have worked on them while they were out.

I see there are drones already hatched out.

Queen is laying a very nice tight pattern.

I still get a chuckle out of the fix on the wood frame inside of the plastic frame. Not in a mean way and not to discourage you either, looks like they are booming.

[Jen]

I'm smiling cause I know when people see my frame implants that they are either chuckling or scratching their head.

I'm in the process now of switching out the implants to wood/wax frames. Hubby got the frames assembled and wax inserted yesterday. Should be back into the hive tomorrow.

I love my queen 

Thanks for your input

[iddee]

It is time, if not past time, to either split, add a box, or remove and replace some of the 2 piece frames. They need space.
I would do as G3 says, but after the split if you are going to split. It needs to be done, but you need all the drones you can get when you split.

You posted while I was writing, so I'm not starting over. Pretend it is before your last post. 

[Perry]

Aside from the funky comb cause of the spacing, 
The queen is doing a nice job with a nice solid pattern. Just what the Dr. ordered,  a nice picture of a brood frame. It's been soooo long since I saw (or will see) one I almost hope I remember what they look like. Keep the pictures coming, they're greatly appreciated.

[G3farms]

Jen whatever you do, don't throw those implant frames away! Twenty years from now you will look at those and get a good chuckle also. I still find things of years past that make me giggle at myself, not just bee stuff either.

[riverbee]

jen, as the guys said the burr and brace comb was caused by the uneven spacing you had going on between the frames. 

g3~
"A nine frame box?......At some point I would clean up all of that burr comb so the frames can be pushed tightly together"

jen~
"I found some honey in all nine frames."

just a comment jen, if you are using 9 frames you don't want to push the frames tightly together as we would with 10 frames, or you will really have a mess on the outside frames.  with 9 frames you want to space them evenly across. 

[G3farms]

RB not to rehash the frame numbers again, but if you look at the box itself, it will only hold nine frames. She does not have a ten frame box with nine frames in it (or so it looks to me).

Jen, this is where you have to step up and make a choice in how you keep YOUR bees.

Me....push frames up tight together.
RB.....space them out.
Jen......

What works for some will not work for others, your milage may vary.

[riverbee]

okay oops g3, i assumed, and it appeared to me jen's hive was a 10 frame deep langstroth with 9 frames in it.  jen? 

don't disagree about what we keep our bees in, 10 frame lang with 10 frames or a 10 frame lang with 9 frames, but if one uses 9 frames in a 10 frame lang, you don't want to shove these tight together, you will have a gob of space between the hive body on the outside frames that the bees busy themselves with building burr and brace comb similiar to frames not being pushed closed together or spaced evenly....

[iddee]

And Iddee's way. Push a FULL box of frames of foundation tightly together. Space frames of comb evenly across the box.

[G3farms]

And Iddee's way. Push a FULL box of frames of foundation tightly together. Space frames of comb evenly across the box.

Even in the brood box???

Honey super I agree on, not the brood box though.